Wow! This class that I am taking has become to be an exciting, interesting, and truly amazing experience. During this unit we are beginning to practice mental exercises. I listened to an audio cd by Elliott Dacher with the loving-kindness practice mental exercise.
I did not find it as beneficial as some of the short meditation mental exercises we have done in our seminars. This however, was longer and I had a harder time staying focused. Part of my problem seemed to be the voices. My mind and body did not seem to respond as willingly and easily to their voices. I did like part of the exercise where you thought about someone you loved very much and thought about that love and tried to pour that love into yourself and others. It did make you think about the love that you had for that person and how you felt about them and try to spread that love to other people and yourself, and tried to make you feel that same feeling come over you like it would with that person you loved so much. It is hard to describe this exercise and the feelings that you have when you are doing the exercise but it is an experience.
The breathing exercise at the end and trying to take away the suffering from someone you know who is ill
and breathing health and wellbeing into them was a great feeling. I actually felt as I inhaled I was taking their illness away and I was breathing life into her while I was exhaling.
Overall, I liked the exercise and the experience. I will do it a few more times and see how the experience unfolds. It could be a beginning to a good mental workout. A good mental workout has been proven to
unfold a sharper, clearer mind yet calmer and relaxed. In order to develop our mind and our mental fitness we must practice just as we do for many other things in life like our physical workouts, or our music lessons, anything that we want to develop and get better at. Mental workouts which bring about loving-kindness and wisdom which are the essential elements that heal at the source and drive human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).
In whole health
Michelle
Dacher, E.S. Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing, (2006) Basic Health Publications: Laguna
Beach, CA
Michelle, I am with you on this one. This course has opened my eyes to something I've been trying to achieve for a while now. The end result is actually greater and more possible than I could have ever imagined. I am so greatful that I am allowing myself this understanding and I find it very wonderful when I see others come under the same understanding. I enjoyed your explanation of a mental workout and its purpose to gaining integral health and complete psychospiritual development. I like you will be doing the Dacher CD meditation exercises again, it does help clear the mind and allow it to be ready to accept and give loving-kindness. I am so ready to have it allowed in my life and directed back at me! Have an awesome week :-) Katie
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time with the voices on this exercise as well. It was nice to be able to think about loved ones and let the love fill your heart, but that was about as far as I was able to get with it. I think I need more practice. Hopefully I will be able to master this with more practice.
Candace
Michelle,I also enjoyed the exercise, but like yourself I lost focus and had to work to get back. Breathing in illness and breathing out wellness took me awhile to grasp and feel comfortable with. I did like the concept of learning to love yourself before you can love someone else.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I really enjoyed this exercise and I too had trouble focusing because of adjusting to the voices. I also knew going in that there may be trouble focusing. I left the session very self aware and excited to do the next practice session. This class is really so much more than I thought and has been very beneficial to me.
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